Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM

Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 1

 Business Processes and Business Decisions
■ Quality of business processes depends on quality of decisions
■ Decision models (as a whole or in part – rule families) can be shared
between / reused-by different processes
■ Improving only the quality of single business processes does not take into
account the sharing and reuse of business decisions
■ This means, that both business decision maturity and business process
maturity are needed

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 2
MSc BIS
 Why Does Business Decision Management need a
Maturity Model
■ Business logic/decision models can be (re-)used in several
processes and applications
♦ There may be changing requirements
♦ Requirements may be conflicting

■ Maturity Model for Decision Management

♦ defining and managing important business decisions and changing the
underlying business logic
♦ create correct, understandable, and verifiable business logic
supporting a business decision
♦ independent of whether the decision is destined for program code or
human execution

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 3
MSc BIS
 The Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM

■ The BDMM measures the quality of the Business Decision

Management Process
♦ deliver high-quality business logic behind business decision

■ Improving the quality of business decisions improves the

performance of the business itself
■ Thus, improving business decision management also
improves the quality of business processes

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 4
MSc BIS
 The right level for a maturity model

■ Business value is found in an entire business decision

■ Entire Decision Models emerge as the asset that
♦ drives toward business objectives and that
♦ drives enterprise and systems architecture
in support of business objectives
■ Thus, the maturity model should focus
on business decisions not on
individual business rules,
business logic statements,
or decision tables

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 5
MSc BIS
 High-level Depiciton of the BDMM

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 6
MSc BIS
 Overview of the BDMM

■ Like typical maturity models, also the BDMM distinguishes 6

maturity levels
0 – Unmanagement 1 – Visible 2 – Agile
3 – Aligned 4 – Predictive 5 – Autonomic

The titles for the levels refer to the qualities anticipated in the Decision
Models created at each level, not the quality of the process

■ For each level there are three vectors

♦ Business Value
♦ Business Architecture
♦ Business Governance/Stewardship

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 7
MSc BIS
 The Purpose of the Three Vectors

The three vectors have different roles

■ Business Values
♦ Identify the relevant busienss consequence of a particular
level of maturity
♦ Determine the optimum maturity level for an organisation
■ Business Architecture and Business Governance
♦ Used to assess the BDMM levels
♦ Define characteristics and measurement criteria for
achieving the level selected based on business values

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 8
MSc BIS
 Characteristics of the Measured Vectors of the
BDMM Business Architecture
1 Senior Management Involvement
2 Operating Unit Participation
3 Architecture Communication
4 Decision Modeling standards and process
5 Process Modeling standards
6 Business Planning standards
7 Integration with specialized execution environments
8 Integration to Business Intelligence
9 Integration into methodology
Business Governance
1 Senior Management Involvement in Business Decisions
2 Operating Unit Participation in Business Decisions
3 Business Planning/Decision Governance
4 Performance Stewardship
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann
Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 9
MSc BIS
 High-level Characteristics of Levels 1 - 5
■ The different levels differ in three aspects
♦ Scope: local – enterpise
♦ Management: documentation – adjustments – prediction – automation
♦ Model: externalisation – reuse
Level 1 – Visible Externalized decision models
local (project, process, organisational unit)
Level 2 – Agile Formal decision model, rapid adjustments/changes,
local (project, process, organisational unit)
Level 3 – Aligned Reuse of decision models, rapid adjustments/changes,
cross organisational boundaries (project/process, units)
Level 4 Predictive Anticipating changes
wide business scope
Level 5 - Autonomic fast automatic response to changes
wide business scope
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann
Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 10
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Level –
Level 0: None
■ General:
♦ No awareness of business decisions as a manageable asset
♦ Business logic is not formally managed or separated from code,
documents, or individual knowledge
■ Business Value
♦ No business value in the Business Decision Management process
♦ Lack of knowledge of business decisions presents risk to business and
increases cost of change
■ Business Architecture
♦ No architecture and no formal control or management process relating
to business logic or business decisions
■ Business Governance
♦ No business governance of or accountability for business logic
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann
Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 11
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Level –
Level 1: Visible
■ General
♦ Gain visibility of business decisions and their business logic; allow
stakeholders to know the business logic behind business decisions.
♦ Visibility localized to specific areas of the organization or to a project.

■ Business Value:
♦ Business decision and their business logic are discovered,
documented and modeled

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 12
MSc BIS
 Business Architecture
at Level 1: Visible
■ No formal architecture and no
formal control or management
process to integrate business
decisions into the organization’s
architecture

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 13
MSc BIS
 Business Governance at Level 1: Visible
■ Little or no business management awareness or formal
interest in the business decision discovery process.
■ Business analysts lead business decision discovery, business
experts act as stewards.

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 14
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Levels
Level 2: Agile
■ General:
♦ Achieve agility: business decisions are not just known, but can be
changed rapidly.
♦ Business decisions are implemented in technology such that the
business analyst, or even business user, is able to rapidly change it
■ Business Value:
♦ Rapid adjustments to business policy; alignment between business
policy, objective, and business decisions
♦ Reduced risk of loss of business control at the project level

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 15
MSc BIS
 Business Architecture
at Level 2: Agile
■ Architectural maturity
demonstrates a consistent
ability to create, manage,
and maintain business
decisions
■ Architectural process
available to all project
stakeholders

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 16
MSc BIS
 Business Governance at Level 2: Agile

■ Business decisions are based on business objectives and their associated

metrics,
■ Business decisions are
continually monitored
and adjusted

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 17
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Levels
Level 3: Aligned
■ General
♦ transparency and reuse of business decisions to other stakeholders
across projects and organisational boundaries
♦ governance processes cross organizational boundaries
■ Business Value
♦ business decisions become aligned across the processes
♦ risk of loss of business control is greatly reduced, and the ability to
predict business impact of change is improved

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 18
MSc BIS
 Business Architecture
at Level 3: Aligned

■ Maturity of business architecture is

implemented across projects, or
even across several business units
■ Clarity and widespread availability of
the architectural processes
■ Business planning linked to
consistent business intelligence
practices at the business unit level.
■ Business decisions are developed
and managed in a well managed
process

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 19
MSc BIS
 Business Governance at Level 3: Aligned

■ resolve conflicts that may occur

when business decisions are
defined by stakeholders across
organizational boundaries
■ demonstrate consistency with
business objectives; respond to
changing business conditions
and metrics
■ close involvement of senior
management
■ performance stewards are
responsible for tracking the
business performance of the
business decisions
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann
Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 20
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Levels
Level 4: Predictive
■ General
♦ being able to predict changes, develop business decisions in response
to anticipated or hypothesized business events and conditions

■ Business Value:
♦ reduce future risk by anticipating future conditions and preparing for
them
♦ ability to model future events and carry out scenario planning using
Decision Model and Business Intelligence tools to fashion the best
possible business logic to use to respond to prospective changes.
♦ adjust business decisions against changing conditions across a wide
business scope across one ore more business

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 21
MSc BIS
 Business Architecture at Level 4: Predictive

■ Ability to model future events to

■ Carry out scenario planning using
the Decision Models and BI tools

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 22
MSc BIS
 Business Governance at Level 4: Predictive

■ Processes conduct and

maintain business scenarios
for future events.
■ Expanded role of the
performance stewards:
♦ lead the effort to conduct
simulations
♦ elicit the correct business
logic changes for a given
scenario.
■ Senior management is
expected to become an
integral part

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 23
MSc BIS
 Assessing the BDMM Levels
Level 5: Autonomic
■ General
♦ fast response to changing events without human intervention
♦ response is both based on careful advance planning and instant
adjustment
♦ based on algorithms and predictive models that control the business
decision logic

■ Business Value
♦ reduce business risk and optimize business opportunity by being
capable of carefully planned, rapid, and continually improving reaction
to events
♦ there is a culture of decision management across the business unit and
decision management is constantly improving

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 24
MSc BIS
 Business Architecture at Level 5: Autonomic
■ Automated algorithms and formulas ■ Automation of business models
to control business decisions and scenarios created and tested
against changing business results in level 4
without external intervention.

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 25
MSc BIS
 Business Governance at Level 5: Autonomic

■ Constantly verify the

continuing accuracy,
relevance, and optimization
of the autonomic business
decisions
■ Close cooperation of senior
management, performance
stewards, and the
governance council

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Decision Maturity Model BDMM 26
MSc BIS